Seems this fella had gone to his favorite lake and was having "a wonderful day" catching bass.
"The squarebill crankbait bite was on," he said, "and we (his partner and him) were having one of our best days of the season. As our fishing day was winding down, we decided to fish a tree-covered shoreline one more time before heading back to the ramp. We were sitting in about 8 feet of water, casting up under the trees as close to the shoreline as possible. The water at the shoreline was only about a foot deep, but on this day," as he allowed, "the bass were feeding there."
In continuing his story, the fella noted, "My casting skills are not the best in the world (boy, how I can relate to that statement!), and errant casts are all too familiar (you betcha!). On my next cast, my squarebill sailed to the shoreline OK but, unfortunately, was intercepted by a tree. Deciding to go after my lure, I headed the trolling motor in that direction.
"As I neared the shore, the water was just too shallow, and I had to pull up the trolling motor. At that same moment, though, I was able to grab a tree branch fairly close to the lure. This maneuver resulted in a different kind of snag: The line at the rod's tip wrapped around some other branches, thus complicating the lure retrieval.
"Now I had a genuine twisted mess, and no matter what I tried, the branches would not break. I grabbed my trusty case knife and, while hacking away at the bundle of branches, the one holding my lure snapped with a 'twang', sending the lure back toward the boat. It ended up catching in the flap covering the zipper in my jeans.
"With the lure recovered but stuck in my fly," the fella continued, "I inched the boat back into the deeper water, 'til I could get to a safe location to remove the hazard from my pants. It didn't take long to realize the lure was hooked very well, and the only thing I could do was to cut a little slice on the zipper flap to release it. All of this took a bit of time and, quite frankly, was starting to irritate me.
"I cut the lure free, only then to accidentally drop my knife. I watched helplessly as it hit the front deck, bounced toward the trolling-motor mount, and then tumbled into the lake, to be lost forever. The recovery of a $2.99 H20 squarebill now had cost me a $40 knife.
"Still irritated, I tossed the lure onto the deck of the boat but right into my net, where it then hung. I cut loose with some inappropriate language and got scolded by my fishing partner.
"That was the last straw. I decided to heck with it and got ready to head for the ramp, with plans to call it a day (yep, been there, done that, and got lots of T-shirts to prove it!). I stowed the rods, cleared a bunch of tree branches from the deck, put on my PFD, and climbed behind the helm for the short trip to the ramp. Alas, though, the motor would not start. After uttering a few more colorful words, which elicited a scowl from my partner, I was told to check the kill switch. Sure enough, it had come unhooked during my tirade.
"Embarrassed by my actions, I turned the key, the motor roared to life, and we headed home."
This confession is a true story...one of many adventures that have befallen this angler.
"Although I'm not proud of my performance, I can't help but laugh about this particular day and how messed up things can get when you're upset," admitted the angler.
There's a saying that goes like this: "When nothing is going right, go fishing." However, there's also another one, from none other than our nation's 31st President, Herbert Hoover, that goes: "Be patient and calm--for no one can catch fish in anger." Both the angler in this account and yours truly need to remember Mr. Hoover's words, cause I'm sure there are more similar episodes ahead for both of us.
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